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Contest Guide

Comprehensive Contest Guide - Orignally written by Ket-Shi and editted by Feather Dancer

Contests are often confusing. After trying them, many people come up with more questions than answers...

Why am I getting so few Hearts?
What Pokémon can learn moves best for the contests?
Where can I find these Pokémon?
What are move combos?
What are your prizes for winning?
What's the deal with the paintings?
Where can I find the scarves and what do they do?
What stats are complimentary and opposing?

I'll be answering these questions and more! I'll be starting with what contests are.

What's a contest?
Contests are brand-new features in Ruby and Sapphire. There are five different divisions your Pokémon can enter in (Cool, Beauty, Cute, Smart, and Tough). First your Pokémon's looks are voted on by a crowd, then you have 5 rounds to use one of your four moves. Even normally useless moves can be great in Contests (Like Water Gun and Tackle). The Normal rank Contest Hall is located at Verdanturf, (where you must get your ticket so that you can participate in contests) the Super Rank at Fallarbor, the Hyper Rank at Slateport, and the Master Rank at Lilycove.

What are the rewards?
They're actually pretty small. Your winning Pokémon gets a Ribbon for each contest it wins, which does nothing... However, by doing exceptionally in contests, you can get your Pokémon's picture put in an art gallery! When you get five different pictures put in the art gallery, you get a Glass Ornament, and your Trainer Card earns a star.

How do I get a painting?
Win the Master Rank of any contest and do extremely well. After you win, an artist will walk up to you and present a picture. Accept his offer to put it in the art museum. You can only have one picture for each type of contest won, which means five total.

Stats
Stats determine how well your Pokémon does in the first part of the contest, where the competition's crowd examines all four Pokémon and votes for the most appealing. There are five different stats:

Cool: Red color. Its secondary stats are Tough and Beauty.
Beauty: Blue color. Its secondary stats are Cool and Cute.
Cute: Pink color. Its secondary stats are Beauty and Smart.
Smart: Green color. Its secondary stats are Tough and Cute.
Tough: Yellow color. Its secondary stats are Smart and Cool.

You can raise these stats by feeding your Pokémon Pokéblocks. There's a Pokéblock minigame in every Contest Hall. All you have to do in put in a berry and press A at the right time. Feed your Pokémon Pokéblocks that have the traits you want.

Using a move of the same type of contest you're in raises the crowd's excitement (Tough in Tough). Using a move of a secondary type of that type's contest doesn't effect the crowd (Using Beauty in Cool). Using an opposing type in a contest lowers the crowd's excitement (Smart in beauty). Keep in mind, this applies to the stats in judging too, so a Pokémon in a Tough contest with a high Cute rating won't get many votes...

What's a move combo?
Move combos are attacks that give extra points when used in the correct order. For example, if I use Rain Dance, then Water Gun, Water Gun will get double the hearts (8!). You can tell if a move can be comboed if the judge has a "!" mark over his head after you use the move. They're the most effective way to get points.

What are the scarves I've heard about?
There's a scarf for every respective stat (Red, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow). To get them, head to Slateport City. The Head Director of the Pokémon fan club will give you a scarf if your lead Pokémon has a maxed-out stat (for example, if I show him a Blaziken with maxed out Coolness, he'll give me a Red Scarf). He'll give you one scarf of every color. Scarves, when equipped in a contest, make your Pokémon more appealing in their respective stat in the first round of the contest, and therefore earn you more votes.

What Pokémon do you recommend using?
I used Medicham for Beauty, Regirock/ice/steel for Tough, Dodrio for Cool, Pelipper for Cute, and Castform for Smart.
You can easily catch Medicham in Victory Road. Any Regi, though tough to catch, it great for Tough. Although you can catch Dodrio in the Safari Zone, I recommend raising a Doduo instead. You can occasionally find Pelippers when you're Surfing. You can get a free Castform from the Weather Center.

Recommended Movesets

Cool
Dodrio @Red Scarf
Peck
Drill Peck
Hyper Beam
(doesn't matter)

First use Peck, then Drill Peck, Peck, Drill Peck, and finish up with Hyper Beam. I'd advise raising your future champion as a Doduo first so that he learns Drill Peck earlier. You can buy Hyper Beam from the Lilycover Department Store.

First use Ice Punch, then Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, then Hyper Beam. You need to use the Move Tutor in Fallarbor to learn Ice Punch and Fire Punch, which requires two Heart Scales. Steal them off of wild Luvdisc, which can be fished for around Ever Grande city with a Super Rod.

Use Water Sport, then Water Gun, Water Sport, Water Gun, and Water Sport. Alternately, you can use a Spheal with Rest and Snore. You need to use a couple Heart Scales to relearn Water Gun and Water Sport.

Little Miss Stalinist/Secret Al-Qaeda agents (i.e. Ellie) would be a ***** even if she was a conserative republican. What makes her the way she is happens to be the fact that the webmaster of this site let's her behave like this. (Of course, I would never make a liberal a staff member at any forum I'd be in charge of, regardless.)

[21:03] <+Skiks> ellie is out of context
[21:04] <+Skiks> the experience

Well, they don't HAVE to have a contest stat maxed out, but it most definitely helps. And if you don't have it at least near to it, it'll be very hard for you to win the final ribbon, let alone win by enough to get a painting of the Pokemon. It ain't designed to be easy to win - try using berries 31-35, or at least the rarer ones (generally and roughly - the higher the number of the berry, the better).

A parody of the Pokemon Colosseum game, full of pastries and Miror B.
Completed. Four times winner of Best Comedy/Funniest Fic.Avatar: minty-fivestar on DA, edited background/cropping. Fic banner: cieux.

I've got a quick question about the stars in the rating. I know that they are affected by the level of whatever type contest the pokemon has, but are there any other factors in it. Because I've maxed out Smart on a Duskull, and on the Master Ranks, I had 1-2 less than the rest of the pokemon and because of that I came in second, so I'd like to know.

That's funny, a while ago I posted a topic about contests, but it appears that this topic alerady existed when I posted mine, but the thing is, I didn't see it at all even if I looked like 3 times trough the few topics on R/S/E Faqs.

Oh well, whatever.

Is there a moveset for Tough contest that isn't Regice/Regirock/Registeel?

I've got a quick question about the stars in the rating. I know that they are affected by the level of whatever type contest the pokemon has, but are there any other factors in it. Because I've maxed out Smart on a Duskull, and on the Master Ranks, I had 1-2 less than the rest of the pokemon and because of that I came in second, so I'd like to know.

It is also affected by the secondary stats so you should consider raising those too (if you still can). A helping nature always helps either so you don't have too much trouble maxing things out.

Originally Posted by Pingouin7

Spoiler:- .:

That's funny, a while ago I posted a topic about contests, but it appears that this topic alerady existed when I posted mine, but the thing is, I didn't see it at all even if I looked like 3 times trough the few topics on R/S/E Faqs.

Oh well, whatever.

Is there a moveset for Tough contest that isn't Regice/Regirock/Registeel?

Tough is by far one of the most easiest in my opinion...

At first you could try Aggron, or any other pok&#233;mon with this movepool (being extremely many)
Take Down, Harden, Take Down, Harden, Take Down.
Requires a bit of luck for not being startled, tho it's very interesting.

The only pok&#233;mon i've ever reached the master rank with those Condition increasing attacks also was in a tough contest. Very easy as well since you don't waste a single TM, Grimer/Muk:
Acid Armor, Rock Smash, Acid Armor, Rock Smash, Secret Power.
Since you can't use Rock Smash again without getting 2 points less Secret Power comes in handy, even if it's Smart Type. If you want you can also breed Explosion on your Muk...

Another for Tough would be Solrock, a sort of related to Aggron.
Harden, Tackle, Harden, Tackle, Explosion.
Tackle seems to be more safe if you got opponents who like to startle you. Explosion is for that last boost of 8 points... Who cares about it being Beauty... Also, you could replace Tackle with Double Edge if you got Emerald, not sure if you get a combo with Harden-DoubleEdge but I think so...

Last but surely not least. Shuppet:
Spite, Curse, Spite, Curse, Spite
This moveset assumes you haven't fully maxed his appealing, otherwise you just start of with curse and perform it the other way. It might come in handy to teach the thingey Rain Dance, which requires a bit of prediction on a 3- or 4-star crowd appeal.

Anyway, Tough Contest isn't far as hard as it seems. Rely on these as your standards and try to find some yourself.

Another few noted Contest Pok&#233;mon for other contests:

Cool - Skarmory
If first- Swift, if not- Peck, Agility, Swift, Agility, Swift
You catch this one, ready for use. So no big deal.
- Hariyama
Very annoying to put up a moveset... Either if you start last begin with Reversal, then combine it with Vital Throw till the end. If you aren't last, start with Vital Throw, and combine it with Reversal till turn 4, finishing off with Hyper Beam. Technically I stole this one a bit from the normal contest Makuhita in the game. Striking last is great. You won't have any problems with startling.

Cute - Barboach/Whiscash
I'm not gonna state orders for this one, just attacks
Rest, Snore, Mud Sport, Water Sport
These 4 moves include 2 combos, which can be used at preferance.

Smart - Well, hit me with something... I couldn't think anything up for this one, I did it with my Aggron being a Tough *****..., I'm ashamed.

Anyway, these are about the most usefull things, you can also think up things yourself. Remember that many pok&#233;mon have a moveset close to these and you could always combine them with a finishing attack like Hyper Beam, or you simply can remove an attack with others to see for combos...

I got all pictures in the museum, so can you!
Good luck, be creative!

AoD~

P.S. ~ Was I the only one finding the Normal Contest for Cool the contest with the best movesets including Mahita the Makuhita and Tatay the Taillow?

I beat all contest and get all the painting on Lilycove Museum except for tough.
I beat it again and again but never get the painting.
So, what's wrong? (I used Pinsir with maxed tough stats and yellow scarf holded)

You're not beating it by enough, pure and simple. You have to not only win, but win by a good margin to get the painting. You must be having 'too close' wins then. :/

A parody of the Pokemon Colosseum game, full of pastries and Miror B.
Completed. Four times winner of Best Comedy/Funniest Fic.Avatar: minty-fivestar on DA, edited background/cropping. Fic banner: cieux.

I used Registeel fot tough and i won the master ranking, but then i didn't get painting of Registeel in tough contest

As I said right above you:

You're not beating it by enough, pure and simple. You have to not only win, but win by a good margin to get the painting. You must be having 'too close' wins then. :/

Winning isn't quite enough - you need to win by a decent margin.

A parody of the Pokemon Colosseum game, full of pastries and Miror B.
Completed. Four times winner of Best Comedy/Funniest Fic.Avatar: minty-fivestar on DA, edited background/cropping. Fic banner: cieux.

Scarfs

Hi, I'm having some trouble with the scarfs. I only gave green pokeblocks to my treecko in order to max smartness. my treecko won't eat anymore pokeblocks. I went to slateport and talked to the chairman. He said i should feed more pokeblocks and didn't give me the green scarf but i can´t feed anymore pokeblocks. What am I doing wrong?

You probably gave the treecko pokeblocks of a too-low level. There's a limit to how many pokeblocks you can feed, you see, so you have to make sure you feed the best ones you can make. Generally using berries with a higher 'number' (e.g. number 26 >>> number 12) tend to give you a better Pokeblock, and mixing with more people can give you a better result as well. Basically, you'll have to start over with a new Pokemon, and give them better Pokeblocks this time around.

Here's a list of berrys: http://www.serebii.net/berrydex/ Numbers 31-35 are pretty good - click on them to find out how to get them, and which ones give smartness. Note it takes a good while to grow more of those however (and you have to water them at each stage - i.e. once a day to get two berries), and the ones just before that are ok too, I suppose.

A parody of the Pokemon Colosseum game, full of pastries and Miror B.
Completed. Four times winner of Best Comedy/Funniest Fic.Avatar: minty-fivestar on DA, edited background/cropping. Fic banner: cieux.

EDIT:
I discovered a combo that is not in bulbapedia or serebii contest attack combos.

Softboiled + Egg Bomb.

I was in a tough super contest with a Blissey. @_@

Last edited by Kacho; 6th January 2010 at 4:13 AM.

FC: 2981 6880 2804
(If you defeated Elite 4 and want my safari, PM your time zone and your friend code. I am in US central so it's helpful if you tell me when will be good for us to get on so you can access my safari.)
Flying Safari:

A lot of pokémon get this. Sceptile, Pikachu, Swellow, Manectric, Jolteon, Skarmory, Metagross, seriously a lot do because almost everything learns Swift and Double Team.

Open the game with Double Team. Usually in the 1st round you're either 1st or 2nd turn so Double Team is useful in avoiding to get hearts reduced. As an added bonus, this defensive effect of Double Team also prevents dazzling. Dazzling is an effect some moves have, it basically prevents pokémon that used a move before you in that round from being able to combo with that move. If they do the right move after that it won't get the double heart bonus.

Next up, use Quick Attack / Agility. Since Double Team doesn't give many hearts you're most likely somewhere 3rd or last now. Quick Attack and Agility are both move combos after Double Team, so you get 6 hearts + crowd bonus. You'll also guaranteedly come first in the 3rd round

3rd round, you're 1st turn, use Aerial Ace / Swift / Shock Wave. This gets 6 hearts when you are first to go in the round, so you get loads of hearts + crowd bonus.

4th and 5th round, repeat the Double Team + Quick Attack / Agility combo again.
I usually win by a very very large margin with this.

For beauty, I've been having quite some success with Milotic, although it requires some prediction.

Surf
Dive
Ice Beam
Hydro Pump

Surf is special in that the amount that it gives depends on how well the pokémon in front of you did. If you are 1st in turn or the pokémon in front of you got 3 hearts, it will give you 3 hearts. If the pokémon in front of you got more than 3 hearts, it gives only the combo bonus of 3 hearts (if applicable), but if the pokémon in front of you only got 2 or less hearts (or didn't perform at all because of missing the turn) you get an amazing 6 hearts, 9 hearts if you combo it after Rain Dance or Dive. With a bit of proper prediction you can get a lot out of this move. Notice that the bonus from comboing is always 3 hearts, no matter how well the pokémon in front did.

In this moveset, Surf is a combo after Dive, and Dive is a combo after Surf, which is quite neat. Hydro Pump is there if you predict the pokémon in front of you is going to get a lot of hearts in which case Surf isn't wise, and Ice Beam is there in case you are last in turn to mess others up.

Does anyone actually know how the moves that 'depend on the circumstances' work? I'm talking about moves like Morning Sun and Moonlight here. It still seems quite random to me. I get the other moves, just these keep on baffling me.

Would it be very difficult for me to put the five Eeveelutions in the museum (Flareon - cool, Jolteon - tough, etc.)? I already have a painting of Umbreon from a smartness contest.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to get all the Eeveelutions in the museum. Jolteon would do well in Cool contests since many Electric moves are Cool, while Flareon would probably do well in Beauty because lots of Fire moves are that type.

That leaves Espeon and Vaporeon for Cute and Tough, which might be harder to do. I know the Eeveelutions get some Cute moves like Baton Pass and maybe Charm, but I can't remember which of their moves are Tough (I've only used Umbreon in Tough, and that was a long time ago...)

Err, I would just look up the moves the Eeveelutions can learn and then build contest movesets.

I've already done beauty with Vaporeon and smartness with Umbreon. I'm planning on putting Jolteon in toughness, Flareon in coolness, and Espeon in cuteness. I think I have a basic idea of what Espeon's moveset will be. I'm more concerned about Jolteon and Flareon.

So, uh, can anyone help me with a strategy or something? Yesterday I tried at least 5 times to win a Tough contest with Mudy the Marshtomp, but I always ended up on third place and once on the fourth.
He knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.
I also gave him two or three Indigo PokéBlocks and on the contest he now always gets the first one to show his moves.

Also, does anyone know what are multi-effect moves (AKA moves that are good in both battles and contests)? I do not only mean moves that can be learned by Marshtomp - I mean any moves that are there in gen3-, and also I mean moves of any type. I would like to know which ones they are because I don't want to have my Pokémon completely unable to fight so they could win the contest, but I don't want them to be super strong with moves useless for contests, either.

† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this if you are too.†

FireRed team:Cordelia Nida Rai Fang Cyclone Charlie

I might help nicknaming your Pokémon, PM me!

I don't like gen5.I'm not a nostalgic freak who can't accept new things;when gen2 came out,I didn't even notice it was new.When gen3 came out,I thought "new Pokémon already??"but I tried to learn as much as possible.When gen4 came out,I was like "Cool, but evolutions of older Pokémon look ugly.Which starter would I pick?"When all gen5 Pokémon were revealed,I was disappointed.
Oh yeah; when gen 6 came out, I was disappointed too, but then it started to revive my faith in the future of pokemon.

"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevent, it is what you do with the gift of life, that determines who you are." -Mewtwo
"The only thing we can be is ourselves, we can't be someone else, and someone else can't be us." -Kelly Smith3DS FC 1048-8196-8009Type:Flying
Spearow, Woobat, Hawlucha

^Click to go to my Ribbon Sprites thread, in need of some ideas^

Currently working on:

Spoiler:- Ribbons I'm working on:

Ribbons based off the Warlords in Pokemon Conquest(thanks to Mystic_Blaze for the idea)
Thinking of other ideas

Eeveelution Contesters

Would it be very difficult for me to put the five Eeveelutions in the museum (Flareon - cool, Jolteon - tough, etc.)? I already have a painting of Umbreon from a smartness contest.

I really wanna try out if this is possible!! - Can I ask for your Umbreon's moveset? I tried to solve this puzzle but it's very hard to strike any combos like this. I switched Jolteon from tough to cool and Flareon from cool to cute, and then mix up the order with Espeon as the smart one and finally tries to get Umbreon tough... (as they advice: www.serebii.net/potw/197.shtml but if you really got Umbreon as a Greenframed painting, then the quest to make Flareon as a cool, and Jolteon as a tough masterranker is still alive I surgest: Flareon with: Leer/Tackle, Double team/Quick attack. Jolteon: Rain dance/Thunder, Double team/Agility.

But how do you make a Master rank smart or tough Umbreon good enough to make a paining at the museum????
plz comment and let me know if you have got a painting without using combo moves on a pokemon???

Any surgestions on how to make a tough Flareon?

And if any of you knows the best berries to use plz share??
let me know what you think?